About the Energy Initiative

The Chicago Energy Initiative is an interdisciplinary research program devoted to the study of the economic, environmental and geopolitical impacts of energy use.

The development and distribution of abundant energy is perhaps the most important social problem of our time. Energy is essential to the maintenance of living standards in developed countries, and to the spread of prosperity worldwide. The goal of energy abundance is constrained by three interrelated features of energy use, however.

First, current energy sources are dominantly derived from depleting natural resource stocks. If rising worldwide demands for energy are to be met at reasonable cost, new energy sources must be deployed; either by further developing existing energy sources or inventing new ones, and then providing the means by which these energy sources can be efficiently distributed.

Second, energy use raises environmental concerns both local and global. Most prominently, evidence of anthropogenic climate change from current energy sources is compelling. Energy use on a scale necessary to sustain and spread economic prosperity will require new approaches to both national and international economic policy, along with societal accommodation of climate change and the development of “clean” energy sources.

Third, energy use and commerce create national and international security concerns. Because of the central role of energy in economic activity, developed countries devote substantial resources and political capital to the protection of energy sources. Access to energy supplies remains a prime source of international conflict. The link between nuclear power and nuclear proliferation connects energy policy and international security even more intimately.

Progress on these issues calls for interdisciplinary research that draws on specialties ranging from economics, business and other social sciences to the physical sciences and engineering disciplines, involving the intellectual resources of both the University and Argonne National Lab. The Chicago Energy Initiative serves as a platform for this research. Activities and programs covered by the Initiative include a regularly scheduled Energy Workshop, an annual Energy Research Conference, a Working Paper series, and the provision of seed grants to encourage research on energy issues.